Sunflower Belfast Ltd & The Black Box Trust
The Context
A partnership between The Black Box Trust, A home for live music, film, comedy, theatre, science, spoken word, visual arts and festivals based in the Cathedral Quarter, and their landlords Sunflower Belfast Ltd.
The Challenge & The Solution
The Black Box has traditionally experienced low footfall in the period July-September resulting in a cycle of reduced income necessitating restricted expenditure on programming. The lull in activity was breaking the venue’s connection with city centre based students, regular customers and tourists in the area. Each time that connection was broken it was taking time to rebuild the Black Box habit and get footfall back to where it was.
Financial support from Sunflower Belfast Limited gave Black Box the freedom they needed to increase programming over the affected months, reconnecting with new and established customers and increasing self-generated income. The knock-on effect of bringing in extra audiences is, of course, enjoyed throughout the Cathedral Quarter through additional food and drink sales and the maintenance of a vibrant atmosphere making this an area that people want to spend time in.
The Results
A diverse variety of local acts were supported by this initiative and contributed to increased revenue for the venue. On top of this, Black Box were able to take some creative risks and stage acts not previously seen in Belfast, cementing their reputation for giving a platform to emerging artists and a wide range of genres. 57 artists were employed over 52 separate events and grew audience numbers by 22%. The Landlords were delighted with the breathing space they were able to provide and hope to continue with their support of this iconic venue.
“Taking part in the Investment Programme with our Landlords, Sunflower Belfast Ltd, has been a gamechanger for Black Box this year…We have been able to increase our Green Room artistic programming and our footfall at a typically quieter time of year.
Kathryn McShane, Black Box
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